Studie-evaluaties en marktaandelen van universiteiten

Universiteiten doen hun best om hoge studentevaluaties te krijgen voor hun curriculum. Er wordt gewoonlijk vanuit gegaan dat hogere evaluaties een positief effect hebben op het marktaandeel van de universiteit. In dit artikel wordt aangetoond dat dit niet altijd zo hoeft te zijn

Path Dependencies and the Long-term Effects of Routinized Marketing Decisions

The purpose of this paper is to discuss a simulation of marketing budgeting rules that is based on a simplified version of the market share attraction model. The budgeting rules are roughly equivalent to those that may be used in practice. The simulation illustrates the concept of path dependence in dynamic marketing systems and shows how it might result from decision rules potentially applied by marketers and retailers. Path dependence results from positive feedback in dynamic systems that imparts momentum to market choices. Where the potential for path dependence exists, there are implications for defining and measuring long-term effects of marketing decisions in a way that is meaningful to managers and researchers. In the simulations presented we show that limited retails assortment may contribute to path dependence when firms use either percentage-of-revenue rules or "market learning" experiments to set budgets. While other budgeting procedures (e.g., matching competition) may stabilize market share, this stability in the share dimension comes at the cost of instability for budgets and profits

Praktische- en psychosociale zorgbehoefte na corona:Factsheet

De provincie Brabant werd vanaf maart 2020 zwaar getroffen door het coronavirus. Om inzicht te krijgen in de behoefte aan nazorg onder coronagetroffenen, startten de GGD’en Hart voor Brabant en Brabant-Zuidoost in juli 2020 met een kortdurend onderzoek naar ondersteuningsvragen bij corona. Met 15 getroffenen werd uitgebreid gesproken over hun ervaringen, zowel met de ziekte als daarna. Specifiek kwam aan bod of en welke aanvullende hulp of ondersteuning zij op prijs stelden, in welke vorm en of zij die hulp ook kregen. De resultaten van het onderzoek kunnen helpen om het hulpaanbod in termen van nazorg beter in beeld te krijgen en te organiseren

Modulation of irinotecan-induced diarrhea by cotreatment with neomycin in cancer patients

This study was designed to evaluate irinotecan (CPT-11) disposition and pharmacodynamics in the presence and absence of the broad-spectrum antibiotic neomycin. Seven evaluable cancer patients experiencing diarrhea graded > or =2 after receiving CPT-11 alone (350 mg/m(2) i.v. once every 3 weeks) received the same dose combined with oral neomycin at 1000 mg three times per day (days -2 to 5) in the second course. Neomycin had no effect on the systemic exposure of CPT-11 and its major metabolites (P > or = 0.22). However, it changed fecal beta-glucuronidase activity from 7.03 +/- 1.76 microg/h/mg (phenolphthalein assay) to undetectable levels and decreased fecal concentrations of the pharmacologically active metabolite SN-38. Although neomycin had no significant effect on hematological toxicity (P > 0.05), diarrhea ameliorated in six of seven patients (P = 0.033). Our findings indicate that bacterial beta-glucuronidase plays a crucial role in CPT-11-induced diarrhea without affecting enterocycling and systemic SN-38 levels

Salvage treatment for recurrences after first resection of colorectal liver metastases: the impact of histopathological growth patterns

The majority of patients recur after resection of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). Patients with CRLM displaying a desmoplastic histopathological growth pattern (dHGP) have a better prognosis and lower probability of recurrence than patients with non-dHGP CRLM. The current study evaluates the impact of HGP type on the pattern and treatment of recurrences after first resection of CRLM. A retrospective cohort study was performed, including patients with known HGP type after complete resection of CRLM. All patients were treated between 2000 and 2015. The HGP was determined on the CRLM resected at first partial hepatectomy. The prognostic value of HGPs, in terms of survival outcome, in the current patient cohort were previously published. In total 690 patients were included, of which 492 (71%) developed recurrent disease. CRLM displaying dHGP were observed in 103 patients (21%). Amongst patients with dHGP CRLM diagnosed with recurrent disease, more liver-limited recurrences were seen (43% vs. 31%, p=0.030), whereas patients with non-dHGP more often recurred at multiple locations (34% vs. 19%, p=0.005). Patients with dHGP CRLM were more likely to undergo curatively intended local treatment for recurrent disease (adjusted odds ratio: 2.37; 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.46–3.84]; p<0.001) compared to patients with non-dHGP. The present study demonstrates that liver-limited disease recurrence after complete resection o

Angiogenic desmoplastic histopathological growth pattern as a prognostic marker of good outcome in patients with colorectal liver metastases

Abstract Background In patients with resectable colorectal liver metastases (CRLM), distinct histopathological growth patterns (HGPs) develop at the interface between the tumour and surrounding tissue. The desmoplastic (d) HGP is characterised by angiogenesis and a peripheral fibrotic rim, whereas non-angiogenic HGPs co-opt endogenous sinusoidal hepatic vasculature. Evidence from previous studies has suggested that patients with dHGP in their CRLM have improved prognosis as compared to patients with non-desmoplastic HGPs. However, these studies were relatively small and applied arbitrary cut-off values for the determination of the predominant HGP. We have now investigated the

Histopathological growth patterns as biomarker for adjuvant systemic chemotherapy in patients with resected colorectal liver metastases

Adjuvant systemic chemotherapy (CTx) is widely administered in patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). Histopathological growth patterns (HGPs) are an independent prognostic factor for survival after complete resection. This study evaluates whether HGPs can predict the efectiveness of adjuvant CTx in patients with resected CRLM. Two main types of HGPs can be distinguished; the desmoplastic type and the non-desmoplastic type. Uni- and multivariable analyses for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were performed, in both patients treated with and without preoperative chemotherapy. A total of 1236 patients from two tertiary centers (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA; Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) were included (period 2000–2016). A total of 656 patients (53.1%) patients received preoperative chemotherapy. Adjuvant CTx was only associated with a superior OS in non-desmoplastic patients that had not been pretreated (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.52, 95% confdence interval (CI) 0.37–0.73, p<0.001), and not in desmoplastic patients (adjusted HR 1.78, 95% CI 0.75–4.21, p=0.19). In pretreated patients no signifcant efect of adjuvant CTx was observed, neither in the desmoplastic group (adjusted HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.49–1.42, p=0.50) nor in the non-desmoplastic group (adjusted HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.71–1.29, p=0.79). Similar results were found for DFS, with a superior DFS in non-desmoplastic patients treated with adjuvant CTx (HR 0.71, 95% CI 0.55–0.93, p<0.001) that were not pretreated. Adjuvant CTx seems to improve OS and DFS after resection of non-desmoplastic CRLM. However, this efect was only observed in patients that were not treated with chemotherap

Rapid and Sensitive Lentivirus Vector-Based Conditional Gene Expression Assay to Monitor and Quantify Cell Fusion Activity

Cell-to-cell fusion is involved in multiple fundamental biological processes. Prominent examples include osteoclast and giant cell formation, fertilization and skeletal myogenesis which involve macrophage, sperm-egg and myoblast fusion, respectively. Indeed, the importance of cell fusion is underscored by the wide range of homeostatic as well as pathologic processes in which it plays a key role. Therefore, rapid and sensitive systems to trace and measure cell fusion events in various experimental systems are in demand. Here, we introduce a bipartite cell fusion monitoring system based on a genetic switch responsive to the site-specific recombinase FLP. To allow flexible deployment in both dividing as well as non-dividing cell populations, inducer and reporter modules were incorporated in lentivirus vector particles. Moreover, the recombinase-inducible transcription units were designed in such a way as to minimize basal activity and chromosomal position effects in the “off” and “on” states, respectively. The lentivirus vector-based conditional gene expression assay was validated in primary human mesenchymal stem cells and in a differentiation model based on muscle progenitor cells from a Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient using reporter genes compatible with live- and single-cell imaging and with whole population measurements. Using the skeletal muscle cell differentiation model, we showed that the new assay displays low background activity, a 2-log dynamic range, high sensitivity and is amenable to the investigation of cell fusion kinetics. The utility of the bipartite cell fusion monitoring system was underscored by a study on the impact of drug- and RNAi-mediated p38 MAPK inhibition on human myocyte differentiation. Finally, building on the capacity of lentivirus vectors to readily generate transgenic animals the present FLP-inducible system should be adaptable, alone or together with Cre/loxP-based assays, to cell lineage tracing and conditional gene manipulation studies in vivo